3:10 TO YUMA

US, 1957, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Henry Jones, Leora Dana, Richard Jaeakel.
Directed by Delmer Daves.

3:10 to Yuma has become something of a classic over the years. It is an unpretentious story of the West, told well. Inevitably it invites comparison with High Noon (1952) with its theme of a man's obligation to his conscience and his being left alone to follow it.

Glenn Ford plays the killer with an oily charm. Van Heflin gives a fine performance as the quiet farmer who takes a job for the money for water for his drought-stricken cattle-run. And, even though his employer and the weather release him from his obligation, he knows that he must put the prisoner in his care on the 3:10 train to Yuma. Delmer Daves and Glenn Ford made three Westerns in 1956-8, Jubal and Cowboy being the other two. This seems to be the best. It came at a peak in Ford's popularity. From 1955 to 1959 he appeared in at least fourteen films.

3:10 to Yuma is a good film for any audience.

1. How did the film create an atmosphere of the West - the coach, scenery, robbery, drought, isolated town, etc. ?

2. Was the audience meant to have any sympathy with Ben Wade after he shot the stage driver? Did he have any good reason for shooting the driver?

3. Dan Evans and his sons were bystanders. Could they have done anything else? If they had, would it have been worth it?

4. What kind of man did the film make out Wade to be - his relationship with his gang, with the girl in the hotel, in the scene where Dan contributes to his arrest?

5. Why was it important for the film to build up a picture of Alex's being the town drunk and something of a fool? (Yet he wanted to be given a chance to prove himself - did he?)

6. Did Dan take on the job of guarding Wade merely for the money? Did he feel any sense of duty or responsibility at this point of the film?

7. What influence did his wife, children and the needs of his land and the cattle have on him?

8. Did the film build up suspense well - the use of the clock, Dan’s growing edginess, the attitudes of Wade, the drunk sleeping in the hotel foyer?

9. Did Dan at any stage succumb to Wade’s temptations of money to set him free? Did Dan have a struggle with himself? How did Van Heflin's face convey his feelings in watching Wade?

10. What impact did the funeral sequence have? Did the funeral affeot Wade?

11. Did the people of Contention City have any obligation to guard Wade and fight off his gang? Were they entitled to walk out on Dan?

12. Did Dan have any obligations towards Wade when Butterfield released him from the job and promised the $200 anyway? Why did Dan feel it was right and go on with it? How important was Alex's murder? How important to Dan was his idea of having a safe society where people would not go in fear?

13. How important was the rain? It also meant that he would not need the $200.

14. Was Dan's wife right to stand by her husband's decision?

15. Why did Wade get into the train and protect Dan? Was it merely that he was grateful for Dan's saving his life in the hotel room and that he oould easily escape from Yuma? Or was there more to it?

16. Did you admire Dan and what he stood for?

17. Was the final rain too sentimental an ending or did it fit in with the closing of the film?

18. What did the song contribute to the film by way of mood? the repeated theme, Wade whistling it, the girl in Contention singing it?